http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4737-3659
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ABSTRACT
An undergraduate college student’s ability to transition successfully to college has been identified as one of the most pressing concerns for institutions of higher education. To understand the challenges associated with transitioning to college and suggest interventions from a communication perspective, we test a mediational model based on family communication patterns theory (FCP) and the communication apprehension perspective (CA). The model examines the influence of FCP and CA on students’ perceptions of the impact of the college transition on their lives. A survey of 2252 students about to transition to college indicated that conversation orientation was associated with lower CA. Both conversation orientation and conformity orientation were associated with more positive perceptions of the impact of the transition to college. An indirect effect was found from conversation orientation to the perceived impact through CA. Practical implications for college retention specialists and educators, families, and students including a pre-transition visualization intervention are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Elizabeth Dorrance Hall http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4737-3659
Kristina M. Scharp http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9280-6313
Notes
1. The revised FCP measure was chosen because the authors were limited in the number of questions they were allowed to include in the survey and were sensitive to respondent fatigue. Incoming students were asked to respond to an extensive number of questions as part of a larger Student Services survey taken after signing up for orientation.